even with the rain, ice and snow -- it's a big travel day for many hawkeye fans heading west for the game tomorrow against nebraska. mark carlson was out in the rain looking for some fans earlier today... take a look. "not a great day to be on the road, but as we stood out here along interstate 80 we saw no shortage of cars crushing west with their hawkeye flags flying high. driver headed to lincoln for the big game battled rain in eastern iowa and a wintery mix as the approached the state line.

there will be thousands of hawkeye fans at memorial stadium tomorrow. more than 90-thousand fans can cram into the stadium, clearly many will be hawk fans with the team ranked in the top 5. even drivers we talked to that weren't heading to the game, were talking about the hawkeyes. many iowans say hawkeye football will be the focus of their thanksgiving weekend. we found one person going to the game tomorrow who's actually a husker fan, but even he was happy for the hawkeyes. "i think it's exciting, it's nice and brings some exposure to iowa and your program, it's always a good thing. " with tomorrow's game at 2-30 and the tough weather, there is a good chance even more hawkeye fans will be on the road first thing in the morning. no doubt about it- many people are thanksful for these hawkeyes. stephanie: that's mark carlson reporting. like he said, the game kicks off tomorrow at 2- 30. be sure to tune

in to local 5 to catch all the action. stephanie: new at six now, some good news for a central iowa family missing a beloved therapy horse. stephanie: the horse -- named buddy -- went missing in colfax friday morning. the family noticed he was gone when they went to feed him. now, the jasper county sheriff's office says buddy was found last night in a field about a mile from home yesterday. in an ironic twist, buddy's owner says he was found by the director of the animal rescue league -- who lives near by. the family says it's a blessing to be thankful for -- we'll show you more on this story tonight at 10. stephanie/lam it's a tradition that's been going strong for 31 years and counting -- the thanksgiving dinner in des moines. dozens of up their holiday to serve more than four at chuck's restaurant to needed it. beans ... pie ... you it was all there to be picked up, or even delivered. terrible with names just to have them come in every year that means we must be

doing something right " stephanie: the tradition began in 1984 with just 100 meals ... and has since grown to the thousands it is today. stephanie: meanwhile over at hope ministries -- more than two hundred people helped serve and deliver thanksgiving meals today. volunteers boxed up the turkey and all the traditional fixings, before putting them in a trailer and delivering them to 22-hundred families in need across the metro. on top of that, they served 400 meals in their own cafeteria. long-time volunteers say this is a tradition benefits them and the people they serve. bob myers, volunteer: "it's kind of a fulfilling, satisfaction when you go out and help you're kind of making their day, and they they're actually making your day." stephanie: hope ministries is celebrating its operations. they expect to more people as winter sets in., stephanie: over at a sioux city

meanwhile -- a family gave up their holiday today to help others. we told you about rebos restaurant last week. well today, the family that owns it opened their doors to feed the less fortunate. there was lots of conversation and laughter. and countless number of people expressed their grattitude. "it is a breath of fresh air, you know...that we can sit with multiple races and have a meal with no one actually being mean to one another. i think that it's a blessing all together," said "i knew that it would be an emotional day, but just walking around and talking to the families and seeing the kids...it's just really emotional. stephanie: now donations collected weeks prior for the event not only went to food, but to provide attendees with hats, gloves, and toiletry bags too. stephanie: coming up on local 5 news at six... two iowans hailed as heroes -- hear how their quick actions helped save a life.. and how they're being honored for it. james: and i'll have your forecast ahead stephanie:

us to look into, contact us! email us at: news at we are iowa dot com. or call us in the newsroom: 1- 800-858-5555. we're on facebook "we are iowa local 5 news" and twitter "we are iowa 5 news" if you see news break... let us know. we are iowa and we want to cover the stories that are important to you. "your watching local 5 news at 6 in hd with

aniowa's most accurate forecast with chief meteorologist brad edwards, and local 5 sports with sports director jon schaeffer. this is local 5 news at 6. we are iowa." stephanie/bam the big game

hawkeyes and nebraska's corn huskers is tomorrow. but it's important to note why it's called the hyvee heroes game. three "citizen hereos" will be honored at halftime, including two iowans. an iowa state trooper and a local nurse -- both credited with saving an oklahoma man's life. local 5's claire powell shares their story. "the engine is revving high, it takes off tires squeal" "this is not good something's going on inside this truck" seven months ago, iowa state patrol trooper tracy bohlen spotted a truck with oklahoma plates, stopping and going in the middle of 70 mile per hour interstate traffic. "it was right where the pylons are first time i saw him" pat roark, an out-of- state driver, was having a seizure in the middle of interstate 35 his 15 year old son, eli, grabbed the wheel. took his dads foot off the gas, placing his on the brake. bohlen ran over- starting cpr right then and there. "a lot of things played out the correct way"

two cars behind bohlen was nurse jane mccurdy. "i worked quite a few relax" relaxing went out the window & instincts "thought that someone what we do" was nothing new. so, as pat fought for his life on the pavement, mccurdy took sobbing eli under her wing and didnt let go. "ill take you to the hospital i wont leave after gettng him a hotel, food and days of waiting... the roarks went home to oklahoma. now months later, in true heroic fashion, neither bohlen nor mccurdy will say they are what everyone is hailing them as... "its humbling and its a big word! i dont look at myself as a hero, just right place right time doing my job" " eli is truly the hero, he's the one that got the truck stopped." they say the highlight of that april day isnt saving pat or eli's lives. or becoming quote on quote

friends and in turn, part of their family. "i just think they're lucky people and grateful, it was a huge blessing for me to be in the right place at the right time" reporting.. stephanie: kickoff is set for 2:30 pm. you can catch the action right here on local 5. nebraska leads the heroes game series 3-1. a win tomorrow would give iowa the most wins in program history. stephanie/2wxcener we're over with meteorologist james peterson now. james/2wxcenter ( james: ( local 5 weather is coming up next. "now, we are iowa's most accurate forecast with meteorologist james peterson. certified by weatherrate the

experts " james:/wxc: welcome back. i'm local 5 meteorologist james peterson. james: let's take a look at we are iowa's most accurate forecast. james:/wxwall: happy thanksgiving! it is going to continue to be a very messy this evening with rain, snow, and freezing rain. the metro is going to see rain becoming freezing rain this evening, then snow into the overnight. the freezing rain and snow in western and northwest iowa will finally come to end an end later this evening. rain will likely change over into a wintry mix after 6pm here in the metro and even some freezing rain after that, but it will have trouble sticking to the roads with how warm our pavement

will be. regardless even travel in the difficult after 8pm tonight. friday will be windy with a few more chances starting into early next week. have a happy thanksgiving everyone! that's all for my forecast. check out weareiowa.com for the latest in weather . stephanie/wxhang: thanks james.

fans with plenty about this time of year yeah stephanie local 5 sports we'll hear from from around iowa city on what they're thankful for this season. that's next. "now, local 5 sports

hawkeye fans may not have had much to be thankful for when it came to their football team. jake rudock was underwhelming. they were under

achieving-- and there wasn't much hope in the future at least at the time. but alex giaimo shows us-- this year is a totally different story for hawks fans. "(alex giaimo) thanksgiving is a holiday that we all share and love.and often the tradition of football and thanksgiving go hand in hand. the iowa hawkeyes have already clinched the big ten in hand. the iowa hawkeyes have already clinched the big ten west and are heading to indianapolis for a chance at a championship. so in the spirit of giving thanks, let's see what hawkeye nation is thankful for this season. (marcus abbott) i'm glad this was our year and we had a lot of upsets and a lot of good times. i'm glad ferentz and the team is coming through, and everybody is happy, and it's coming around thanksgiving time and we can all be thankful for it. (brett jeffries) kirk ferentz finally getting it right...and cj...i mean best of luck to ruddock and all but i'm glad we're still sticking with cj. (ana barrett) this year was the first time that i had seen a hawkeye win in person so it's pretty amazing to go my first two years never seeing a win andnd now we are undefeated so that's pretty awesome. (nate meyer) i'm just greatful for the fact that you know ferentz

finally decided to go with beathard at quarterback, making a change, you know i know it's not an easy thing to do. it's just awesome you know noone here has seen us do this awesome in the regular season before. i've been from iowa my whole life so it's just awesome to see the team finally have a shot to go someplace big. (alex giaimo) and with the hawkeyes controling their own destiny with a chance at the college football playoff...it's safe to say that all is good right now in hawkeye nation. with your hawkeye headquarters report i'm alex giaimo. " iowa and nebraska play at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon here on local 5. iowa trying to lock up the most in program history. we will be having game specials airing tonight right after the news here at 6:30. then tomorrow morning jeff woody will join me at 10am for an hour long pre game show. then tomorrow night at 6:30 we'll recap all of the action from the heroes game-- breaking down video and playoff hopes. what a loss or hopefully a win can do for the hawkeyes moving forward. coming into the state looked like anything but a program.

the missouri valley regular season champs from a year ago were ranked ninth coming into this season. but the shockers were shocked by tulsa just over a week ago. they're trying to get back on track now ranked 20th and taking on an unranked usc squad at the advocare invitational wichita st guard fred vanvleet out with a hamstring injury 2nd half 60-58 wichita st bennie boatwright (usc) hits the corner 3 pter score: 61-60 usc 2nd half 64-62 usc bennie boatwright (usc) hits another 3 pter...this time from the top of the key score: 67-62 usc 2nd half 71-66 usc under :10 seconds left wichita st gets the steal and ron baker (ws) hits the 3 pter score: 71-69 usc 2nd half 72-69 usc :02 left last chance to tie for zach brown (ws) who misses the 3 pter final: 72-69 usc upsets the shockers moving wichita state to 2-2 on the season-- usc is now 5 and 0. jon/sx3s stephanie/sx3s

we'll be right back... you're watching local

the 89th annual macy's thanksgiving day without a hitch today. stephanie: an estimated three million people gathered for the parade in midtown manhattan as giant balloons took to the clear, sunny sky. here's a fun fact -- the the parade has been a tradition since 19-24 and actually started as a christmas parade. the iconic giant balloons didn't show up until 19-27. stephanie/wxhang: now one last

meteorologist brad edwards. james/wxhang happy thanksgiving! it is going to continue to be a very messy this